An analysis of 1 million students in a New York school district showed that school cafeteria food affected IQ scores to an astonishing degree. When preservatives, coloring, dyes and artificial flavors were removed from the cafeteria menu researchers found that 70,000 students performed two or more IQ grade levels higher than before.
Originally posted by Skyfloating
reply to post by SpeakerofTruth
Taken in an overall context, intelligence IS increasing though
Originally posted by kosmicjack
Evidently I.Q. tests are not so much a gauge of your mental capabilities but more of an indicator of the quality of the environment in which you live. Intelligence is relevant to your surroundings and adaptability. It makes sense but it also makes me concerned for a generation of T.V. addicted, video-game playing, celebrity-obsessed and over-consuming American children. What mental skills or useful intelligence is being produced by American culture?
www.newyorker.com...
The psychologist Michael Cole and some colleagues once gave members of the Kpelle tribe, in Liberia, a version of the WISC similarities test: they took a basket of food, tools, containers, and clothing and asked the tribesmen to sort them into appropriate categories. To the frustration of the researchers, the Kpelle chose functional pairings. They put a potato and a knife together because a knife is used to cut a potato. “A wise man could only do such-and-such,” they explained. Finally, the researchers asked, “How would a fool do it?” The tribesmen immediately re-sorted the items into the “right” categories. It can be argued that taxonomical categories are a developmental improvement—that is, that the Kpelle would be more likely to advance, technologically and scientifically, if they started to see the world that way. But to label them less intelligent than Westerners, on the basis of their performance on that test, is merely to state that they have different cognitive preferences and habits. And if I.Q. varies with habits of mind, which can be adopted or discarded in a generation, what, exactly, is all the fuss about?
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Standardized IQ tests use scores to measure intelligence, but their accuracy as indicators of cognitive ability is suspect.
Originally posted by Skyfloating
reply to post by jbondo
The idea of being born and fixed to a certain level of intelligence doesnt sit well with me. It contradicts the idea of growth and improvement. Things grow. Body grows. Trees grow. Intelligence can grow.
